All about our life afloat ... currently on a dock in the Canadian Gulf Islands.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

THIS IS WHY I LOVE KNITTING

Yesterday Michael informed me that he needed me to get lost for a few hours. It had something to do with bilges and oil and needing to lift floorboards, etc., so I was happy to oblige! Besides, I've been in work-work-work mode a LOT this month, so it was time for a little play...

Even though it was a downright pissy day, I took myself and three knitting projects down to Clover Point (that would be the blue cotton shawl that's still on the needles, the burgundy socks that are still on the needles, and, just so I could feel some progress, a new project. You understand).

This is what I was thinking when I bought a pair of black summer-weight pants at a second-hand store the other day for $5. They were a bit too short, though, so I got some plain black cotton out of the stash, and I got Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge book off the shelf. I found a lovely lace border that I thought would work out to the 2.5 extra inches I needed, and it took about an hour, sitting in a storm at Clover Point, to knit 22" (the circumference at the bottom of the leg) of it:So now I just need to make another one, and then sew them to the existing hem, like so: I love knitting!

I love sitting at Clover Point, too, and a little storm didn't stop all the traffic! First of all, our local Navy 'ambassador' boat, the 'Oriole', went motoring by:Then I saw something huge and yellow drifting in on the waves, and before I could figure out what it was, these two Coast Guard Auxiliary boats appeared out of nowhere, and snagged it:(I talked to one of the guys later at Fisherman's Wharf, and he said they'd gotten a report of an overturned dinghy in the water -- which is exactly what I thought it was, too! -- but that it turned out to be a huge piece of styrofoam 'wrapped' in sheet metal, which was all jagged. They had to tow it in to the Coast Guard yard in the harbour -- what a ride that would have been in that weather!)

Our two local tall ships came by ...And then the pilot boat went out to meet a freighter I couldn't even see in the mist...Meanwhile, back on land, creatures were present:I'm not much of a bird-watcher, but I think the first group was some kind of starling? And the second one was a seagull, believe it or not -- and then, of course, our local Beacon Hill Park bald eagle, who spends quite a bit of time on that rock!

Well, two hours or so went by very quickly, and the weather was starting to really deteriorate, so I headed home again -- and passed this tug and barge coming out of the harbour, and then the After Eight, a prominent Island-owned yacht, heading out - crazy!

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About Me

My hubby Michael and I have lived afloat for 18 years now, and we'll never go back to land! The last 15 years have been on our 38' 1965 Chris Craft, Wind Walker . Apart from boating, I knit. A lot. You can email me at skipper at mvwindwalker dot com .